William painter



W. PAINTER. OAPPBD BOTTLE OPENER.

(.No Model.)

Patented Feb. 6, 1894.

UN TED STATES PATENT OFFIcE.

WILLIAM PAINTER, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE CROWN CORK AND SEAL COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

-CAPPED-BOTTLE OPENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 514,200, dated February 6, I894.

Applicationfiledd'une 5, 1893. Serial No. 476,638- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM PAINTER, of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Capped-Bottle Openers; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings furnished and forming a part of the same, is a clear, true, and complete description of my invention.

Bottle openers embodying my present invention 'are specially adapted for the removal of hard metal sealing caps from bottles having locking shoulders to which the caps have been so firmly applied as to require considerable force for effecting their detachment. My openers are however specially adapted to operate upon such caps as are provided with some kind of a projected edge with which the opener may be engaged so that it may be operated withleverage in wrenching or prying the caps from bottles.

My bottle opener essentially embodies a handle, having at one end thereof, acap centering gage, and also a cap engaging lip, and however these three elements may be formed and combined, the centering gage should also afiord a fulcrum, with respect of the handle and the cap engaging lip, and the latter should be substantially in line with the handle, so that when the opener is applied to a capped bottle, the gage will assure an appropriate bearing or fulcrum on top of the cap, with the lip located beneath or underlying a portion of the cap, and so enable the handle to serve as a lever for removing the cap from the bottle. Although without departure from my invention these three essential elements may be separately constructed and combined to form my bottle opener, they are more economically constructed integrally of iron or other suitablyvstrong metal, as by molding or casting the opener in one piece, and it is in this form that my opener will be more particularly described.

Figures 1 and 2, illustrate one of my openers in a desirable form in side view, and central longitudinal section. Fig. 3, illustrates the opener applied to a cap in top view. Figs. 4 and 5, illustrate respectively, the opener applied to a capped bottle, and the same with the cap partially lifted. Fig. 6, illustrates one of my openers, provided with two cap engaginglips. Fig. 7, in two views, illustrates one of my openers adapted to be mounted on a table or counter.

The bottle opener A here shown embodies not only my present invention, but also certain features disclosed in Letters Patent No. 438,710, October 21, 1890, which not only onable this opener to be used for removing certain inside loop seals as heretofore patented to me, but also enable the opener to be used as a temporary stopper, this latter feature being generally useful regardless of the character of the bottle sealing devices employed. For the purposes of this specification, however, the handle a may be considered only as a handle, serving as a lever in connection with the centering gage, b, and the cap engaging lip c. This centering gage b is in the form of an open loop, having lateral dimensions considerably less than the diameter of the caps with which it is to be used, so that its two sides at b, b, will be in gaging contact with the'sides of a bottle cap, when the engaging lip c is beneath the detaching shoulder of the cap. Other portions of the centering gage, as at 12 ,17 engage in bearing contact with upper surfaces of the cap, and serve as fulcra during the operation of the opener. The cap engaging lip c is a well defined bearing surface substantially in line with the handle a, and therefore substantially central with respect of the centering gage, and when arranged in line with the axis of the handle a, theopener can be applied either side upward to a cap and be equally eflective.

As shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, the bottle cap (I is one of several forms of sealing caps heretofore patented to me, and when applied to a bottle B, having a locking shoulder as at e with which the flange of the cap has been forced into locking contact, considerable force is required for detaching the cap. With such caps a projected edge is afforded for engagement by the bottle opener, the latter being equally efiective whether said projected edge d is located at and afforded bythe lower portion of the flange of the cap, or between said edge and the top of the cap, as in other forms of cap devised by me, which are also applied to and fastened upon bottle heads having the same locking shoulder e.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, when the opener A is placed in proper relation to the cap d, the gaging contacts I), b, on the centering gage I), enable and assure a proper adjustment of the cap engaging lip c, with relation to, and underlying the projecting detaching edge or shoulder d, while the fulcrum contacts at b 19 on said gage are in bearing contact with the top of the cap, so that when the handle is raised as in Fig. 5, the cap will be pried from the bottle.

Although the opener A is in what I deem to be its best form, because it is adapted for use with both inside seals and metallic or crown sealing caps, as Well as for use as a temporary stopper, it is to be distinctly understood that my present invention relates solely to the handle, the centering gage and the cap engaging lip, and that the latter may be varied as to its location, without departure from my invention, so that the lever movement of the handle may be reversed, as for instance, with the opener A, as shown in Fig. 6. In this opener the handle a is a mere handle. The centering gage b is substantially as before described with respect of the gaging contacts b, b, and the fulcrum contacts b b and the cap engaging lip c, is the same as in the openerA,so that with metal caps this opener can be operated precisely like the other if desired. This opener has howevera cap engaging lip c substantially in line with the handle but at the inner side of the outer end of the loop, and for cooperating therewith this centering gage has appropriate gaging contacts b b and fulcrum contacts b ,b so that when applied to a cap with the lip c underlying a projected portion of a metal cap the handle a will be inclined upward or away from the bottle, and cap detaching will be effected by forcing the handle downwardly in stead of upwardly as with the opener A.

With my openers composed of plate steel, the handles may be quite short, and the centering gage may terminate near the fulcrum points, all as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 6.

When my openers are to be used as fixtures on benches or counters, a wide flat handle is generally desirable as shown at a in Fig. 7. A screw-hole with a transverse web a and puncturing points a on the rear side, enable the opener to be firmly mounted for service. The centering gage, with its gaging contacts b b and fulcrum contacts b b, are as before described, and the same is true of the cap engaging lip c. It will be obvious that it is only the central portion of either of the lips shown, that need actually engage with a sealing cap, and-hence it will be seen that the edge outline of said lip may be widely varied without impairing its cap engaging capacity.

It will be obvious that while it is highly conducive to elficiency to have two gaging contacts, one at each side of the cap engaging lip, either one of said gaging contacts may be relied upon for proper service; as, for instance, if the other contact and one of the fulcrum contacts be removed, as indicated by the dotted line in Fig. 1.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- A'capped bottle opener consisting of a suitable handle, provided with a cap engaging lip adapted to underlie a portion of an applied bottle sealing cap, and also having a centering gage affording gaging contact with the side of the cap adjacent to the engaging lip, and still further aifording fulcrum contact for enabling bearing engagement with the upper portion or top of the cap, substantially as described.

WILLIAM PAINTER.

Witnesses WALLACE Ross, '1. R. ALEXANDER. 

